The Fairfield Trojans volleyball team made a commanding statement to open their 2025 season, sweeping both matches on the opening night of the Steve Hisel Volleyball Tournament on August 28th, 2025. The Trojans defeated WACO 25-14, 25-21 before dominating Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (EBF) 25-11, 25-18. Before the tournament, the Trojans haven’t defeated the EBF volleyball program since 2020, so that was a huge win for the Trojans.
Match One: Fairfield vs WACO (25-14, 25-21)
The season opener against WACO proved to be an excellent test for the Trojans’ early-season chemistry. WACO got in 3 matches earlier in the week at their home tournament where they fell to Pekin, Centerville, and Van Buren County. However, that experience helped them out tonight. The first set began evenly with both teams trading points to a 7-7 tie before Fairfield found their rhythm and exploded on a decisive run to take the set 25-14.
The second set provided more drama as WACO jumped to an early 8-4 advantage, forcing the Trojans to show their resilience. Fairfield methodically fought back to tie the score at 13-13, setting up a thrilling finish. The teams battled point-for-point with Fairfield taking an 18-16 lead, only to see WACO tie it at 18. The Trojans maintained their composure in crunch time, pulling ahead 22-21 and closing out the set 25-21.
Faith Jones orchestrated the offense brilliantly with 20 assists, and 4 different Trojans had 3 or more kills including Maddy Martin (3), Elyse Setterstrom (4), Leah Helmick (5), and Natalie Steele (6). Defensively, Isabel McCready led the way with 8 digs, while Iris Lane added 6 digs. The serving attack was led by Faith Jones, who had 2 aces with an 88.2% efficiency rate. Leah Helmick had 3 aces with an 85.7% efficiency rate from the service line.
Match Two: Fairfield vs EBF (25-11, 25-18)
The Trojans carried their momentum into the second match, displaying the dominant form that could make them a force throughout the season. The first set against EBF showcased Fairfield’s superiority as they controlled the tempo from start to finish, never allowing their opponents to establish any rhythm in a commanding 25-11 victory.
The second set saw Fairfield establish early control with a 10-4 lead that proved insurmountable. Despite EBF’s efforts to mount a comeback, the early deficit was too much to overcome as the Trojans closed out the match 25-18.
Faith Jones continued her playmaking with 5 assists in the second match, while the team showed balanced offensive contributions with Martin, Steele, and Setterstrom. The serving remained strong with the team maintaining good efficiency throughout the match.
Tournament Standouts
Several Trojans stood out across both matches in the tournament opener. Faith Jones was exceptional as the floor general with 27 total assists (20 in the WACO match, 7 in the EBF match) and efficient offensive distribution. Her leadership was evident in both matches as she helped orchestrate balanced offensive attacks. Steele was a woman of steel that evening performing 2 different sports in tennis and volleyball, where she excelled in both and was a key in getting both teams the win. Setterstrom, Helmick, Martin, and Steele all made their presence felt on the front line.
Defensively, the Trojans showed excellent court coverage with Mallory Wigle, Lane, Lexi Mast, and McCready contributing digs to keep the rallies alive for the Fairfield offense. The team had a total of 50 digs across the 4 sets of play.
Despite recording 20 errors in their opening matches, this team’s upside is evident – as chemistry develops and timing improves, expect those miscues to decrease significantly as the season progresses.
